1. Field
Apparatuses consistent with the present inventive concept relate to a vacuum nozzle control apparatus and a head assembly for a chip mounter having the same that are capable of readily controlling formation of a vacuum in a nozzle using a single valve to suction or mount an electronic part to prevent a phenomenon such as overshoot due to a vacuum release pressure generated when the vacuum is released.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a chip mounter is an apparatus for mounting semiconductor chips manufactured through a semiconductor manufacturing process on a printed circuit board (PCB).
Electronic parts such as semiconductor chips are sequentially supplied into the chip mounter through a part supply apparatus such as a tape feeder. A head nozzle assembly installed at the chip mounter sequentially picks up the electronic parts supplied as described above to convey them to mounting positions on the PCB.
The head nozzle assembly is conveyed to a pick-up position and a mounting position of an electronic part by a conveyance module which is also installed at the chip mounter.
The head nozzle assembly can receive a vacuum pressure and suction the electronic part disposed at the pick-up position using a pneumatic pressure system, and release the provided vacuum pressure to mount the electronic part on the PCB at the mounting position.
Constitution of the head nozzle assembly using the pneumatic pressure system will be described.
FIG. 1 illustrates the above-described head nozzle assembly which includes a nozzle 90 having a vacuum hole 91, a vacuum provider 80 configured to provide a vacuum in the vacuum hole 91, a vacuum line 71 configured to connect the vacuum provider 80 to the vacuum hole 91, a release line 72 configured to expose the vacuum hole 91 to the air, a first valve 60 installed at the vacuum line 71, and a second valve 62 installed at the release line 72.
According to the above constitution, when an electronic part is suctioned using the nozzle 90, the first valve 60 is opened, and thus, the vacuum provider 80 can provide a vacuum in the vacuum hole 91. At this time, the second valve 62 is in a closed state.
In addition, when the electronic part is mounted on the PCB, the first valve 60 is closed and the second valve 62 is opened. Therefore, the vacuum formed in the vacuum hole 91 is exposed to the air through the release line 72 to form an atmosphere pressure state in the vacuum hole. As a result, the electronic part can be separated from the vacuum hole 91 of the nozzle 90 to be seated and mounted on the PCB.
However, according to the above constitution, in order to repeatedly form and release the vacuum in the vacuum hole 91, a plurality of first and second valves 60 and 62 controlled by a controller 81 are needed. Therefore, since the valves 60 and 62 are individually controlled during a process of repeatedly suctioning and mounting the electronic part, their control process is complicated and manufacturing cost is also increased.
Further, when the electronic part is mounted, while the vacuum in the vacuum hole 91 is released through the release line 72, an overshoot phenomenon due to the vacuum pressure generated from the vacuum hole 91 and mis-mounting of the electronic part on the PCB due to the remaining pressure may occur.